Disclaimer: I only own my OCs.
"Auntie J! Auntie J! Mummy told me to get your lazy butt out of bed! Wake up! Wake up!" Crash. "Oops."
Jasmine groaned and pushed herself into a sitting position. She looked into the face of her nine-year-old niece, Nymphadora Tonks, who had just knocked over a lamp.
"It's okay, sweetie," Jasmine told her. She pointed her wand as the lamp, "Reparo," and it was fixed. "See? Good as new."
"I wish I could do that!" Nymphadora looked up at her aunt in awe.
Jasmine chuckled. "You'll learn in time, don't worry. I mean, you can already – bang – change your appearance, and I'm stuck looking like this."
The little girl laughed.
"So, what did your mother want?"
"Breakfast!" She grabbed Jasmine's hand and led her into the kitchen. The smell of bacon and eggs filled the room.
"Morning, Anda," Jasmine told a witch cooking in a bathrobe as Nymphadora sat down.
"Morning, Jasmine. And please don't call me that," came the answer.
A man entered the kitchen, also wearing a bathrobe – Nymphadora and Jasmine were still the only ones wearing just pajamas – and reading a muggle newspaper with a wizarding one under his arm.
"Hey, Ted," Jasmine told him.
"Good morning," he said and went to kiss his wife and daughter. He looked around the kitchen and sat down as Andromeda brought the food to the table. "Well, I'll say I'm really starting to be outnumbered." He got a slight chuckle from everyone as they started to eat.
Very early yesterday morning, Jasmine had come here, to the only relative she liked even a little bit. Even though it had been a few years since they last spoke, Andromeda invited Jasmine to stay as long as she needed. That turned out to be helpful to Nymphadora, who was always asking about her mother's family, as well.
Jasmine wasn't planning on staying very long, she just want to be, or couldn't be, alone just then. She needed someone she could trust, and Andromeda was the last one.
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After eating breakfast, Jasmine went back up to her room and was followed by Nymphadora. Jasmine opened a drawer and pulled out a pair of blue jeans and a navy blue long-sleeved shirt, nothing was folded.
Nymphadora flopped down on the bed while her aunt turned around to change.
"Where you going?" she asked Jasmine.
Jasmine pulled her shirt on, turned around, and pulled her hair out of her shirt. "What makes you think I'm 'going' anywhere?"
"Because yesterday you told me you don't like to get dressed before noon," Nymphadora said as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.
Jasmine laughed and sat down next to her. "I'm going to the ministry, Miss Smarty-Pants."
Her eyes lit up, her mother was the only person she knew able to work at the ministry, and she didn't. "Oooh. Can I come with you?"
"I don't think so, maybe another time."
"Please," the little girl was practically begging and had put on the same puppy face the she, Sirius, and James had often given McGonagall at school to try to get out of detentions.
That did it for Jasmine.
"Oh, alright."
"Yippee!"
"But ask your mother first."
Nymphadora bounded out of the room. Jasmine could hear her begging Andromeda for permission and laughed to herself.
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After endless pleading, Ted finally told Andromeda that it would be a 'good experience for her now that the dark guy has gone', and Andromeda agreed to let Jasmine take Nymphadora to the Ministry of Magic.
So Jasmine, who could drive, used the Tonks' car to drive to the visitors' entrance with Nymphadora and Ted, who would use the car after they got there. Andromeda decided it would be a good time to go shopping.
Upon arriving, Ted took the car and Jasmine and Nymphadora got into a solitary phone booth – Ted had, by that time, figured his life would be much simpler if he didn't question the wizarding world.
Jasmine pushed six-two-four-four-two and a voice said, "Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and business."
Jasmine answered, "Jasmine Black, I work here, and…"
"Then why use the visitors' entrance?"
"I'm here with my niece who wants to visit, her name is Nymphadora Tonks," she told the voice, trying not to explode at it.
"Thank you. Visitor, please take the badge and attach it to the front of your robes," the voice said.
A square badge reading 'Nymphadora Tonks, Visiting Relative' fell into the change slot. Jasmine took it and gave it to Nymphadora. "Here, hon, put this on."
"Visitor to the Ministry, you are required to submit to a search and present your wand…"
"She doesn't have one."
"Visitor to the Ministry, you are required to submit to a search at the security desk, which is located at the far end of the Atrium."
"Shut up and go already."
The box shuddered and sunk into the ground for about a minute.
"The Ministry of Magic wishes you a pleasant day."
"Sure you do."
The door opened and Jasmine and Nymphadora entered the atrium of the ministry. Nymphadora was awed, but to Jasmine, the building was nothing.
She took her niece to her office, which was very messy, all littered with papers and other stuff.
"Nymphadora…"
"Don't call me that."
"I know, I know. Alright…Nymphy…"
"Auntie J!"
Jasmine laughed. "Sorry, hon. Just stay here for a minute, okay, I have to go find something." She turned to lean out the door. "STALBURD!"
A young boy ran into the office. "Oh, Miss Black, how nice to see you out and about again."
"Yeah, hi. Watch my niece while I get something."
"Oh, yeah, sure. Would you like me to get it?"
"No, no. I'll get it." And she left.
Stalburd looked at Nymphadora. "Hello. Are you Jas's niece?"
"Yes."
"Well, what's your name?"
"Nymphadora, but I hate it."
"Oh, you do, do you?"
Nymphadora nodded her head. "Yes."
"Well then why don't I call you by your surname, like they do ministry officials? I'll get you an assistant's badge instead of the visitor's, and then you'll be like a real employee."
Nymphadora perked up. "Okay! My surname's Tonks, will I really get to be a real assistant?"
Stalburd laughed. "For today, yes. Come on, Tonks." He took her by the hand and led her outside.
"What will my badge look like?" she asked him.
"Like this," Stalburd said and handed Tonks his badge. "Only yours will have your name and 'assistant' on it."
Tonks looked at the badge. It wasn't much different from the one she was wearing, except that it was an oval, said 'Roger Stalburd, Intern', and had the ministry seal at the bottom.
"What's an 'intern'?"
"Well, I'm Jas's intern, and I guess she just shows me how to do her job incase she can't…or doesn't."
"So is that why you have to watch me?"
"No, she's just my boss, so I listen to her."
"Do you like being an 'intern'?"
"Yes! Especially your aunt's. She keeps it so no one can fire me."
Just then, a sinister looking man came out of a door Stalburd and Tonks were passing. "So, I hear Black has finally got enough wits about her to show her face, Stalburd."
"Shut it! And it's Miss Black to you, Macnair!"
The man called Macnair scowled and walked away.
"Come on, Tonks, that guy's a creep."
Tonks quickened her pace a bit. She didn't like the look of that man. "Who is he?"
"His name's Macnair and Jas thinks he's a Death Eater, so I do too. He's here trying to clear his name by getting a job."
"What do you mean?"
"Do you know what Death Eaters are?"
Tonks shook her head.
"Death Eaters are very bad witches and wizards. Macnair had been accused of being one, but he convinced everybody that he wasn't – except Jas – and now he wants a job here."
"Oh. Well if Auntie J thinks he's a bad Death Eater, so do I!"
"That's basically what I said. Jasmine's the only one here I actually trust enough to believe, so whatever she believes, I believe too. But I don't want you thinking like that, you hear?"
"Okay."
They went into the elevator and Stalburd pushed a button. The elevator stopped and they got out. Stalburd led her to a locked door. He pointed his wand and the door and said something that made the door unlock.
"A lot of these doors are locked, and you need a certain spell to open them. Every employee has one, a different one, and depending on his or her position, it opens certain doors. Jasmine's opens just about every door, so I just use hers."
"Do I get a spell?"
"Sure, you can use mine, it's 'wasp-wing'."
"Will it really be the only way to unlock doors?"
"Some doors, come on." He pushed open the door and led Tonks inside a room filled with blank badges for employees and visitors. Stalburd picked up an employee badge and slipped it in a slot. He placed his wand on a pad just above the slot and said, "Nymphadora Tonks, intern's assistant." The badge came back out and Stalburd handed it to Tonks. "Here you go. You best give me the other one."
"Oh, thanks!" She took off the visitors badge and gave it to Stalburd - who discarded it - and put on the assistant's one.
They left and went back to Jasmine's office.
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Jasmine just left her office and was heading to a room not many people knew of or even had access to. She went to the bottom floor, found the door, said the spell, and went to a file cabinet. The files were full profiles of everyone in the English Wizarding World. She found the one labeled 'Bartimus Crouch Sr.' and pulled it out, then took it back to her office.
When she got to her office, the first thing she noticed was the Stalburd and Nymphadora weren't there, but she wasn't worried because she trusted Stalburd to keep Nymphadora out of trouble.
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Five minutes later, Stalburd and Nymphadora came back. Jasmine wouldn't have even noticed if they hadn't opened and closed the door.
"Hello, Miss Black. Back already?"
"Yup."
"Auntie J! Lookie! Lookie!"
Jasmine looked up. "Sounds like you had fun. What's so exciting?" she asked with a smile.
"I'm an assistant!" she proudly declared.
"Oh, wow! Congratulations, sweetie! Hey, Stalburd, why don't you take her down to the staffroom for a doughnut to celebrate, then we'll all go out to lunch?"
"Yippee! Come on, come on! Staffroom! Doughnuts!"
Stalburd laughed. "Okay then. Miss Black, is half and hour okay?"
"Yes it is."
"Bye-bye," Nymphadora said and left with Stalburd for a doughnut.
When they left, Jasmine resumed reading the file. She chuckled to herself. "At least some of us are enjoying this." After twenty minutes, the file was read and Jasmine was thinking hard, flipping through it. "Hmmm. They don't say much about his son. I wonder where he comes into play." After a couple minutes of pondering, she smiled to herself – she wasn't a Marauder for nothing. "I think I got him."
Ten minutes later, Jasmine headed for the staffroom and was met halfway by Stalburd and Nymphadora, who had frosting on her face.
"Alright," she said, "let's go to the Leaky Cauldron, then ice cream at Florean's."
"Yay!"
"Nymphadora--"
"Can you call me 'Tonks'?"
"Why, like that better?"
Nymphadora nodded her head.
"Alright then, Tonks, you ever used floo powder before?"
"A few times."
"Okay, good. Say 'Diagon Alley'," Jasmine instructed as she handed Tonks a pinch of the powder.
Tonks threw it in one of the ministry's large fires and stepped in as it turned bright green. "Diagon Alley." And she was gone.
"You coming, Stalburd?"
"No, ma'am. I think I'll put the file back, if you're done with it."
"Alright. I'm not sure whether we'll be coming back or not then."
"Okay, Miss Black, I'll keep things in balance."
"I hope so. See ya." And she followed Tonks to Diagon Alley.
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When she stepped out of the flames, Jasmine spotted Tonks talking with Tom the bartender. Tom saw her first.
"Hello, Miss Jasmine, this young one here says she's your niece."
"That she is. Can we get a table?"
"Take your pick, miss, take your pick."
"Thanks." Jasmine sat at a table near the bar and Tonks sat next to her. They ordered and ate while Tonks filled Jasmine in and the badge and doughnut, which was apparently very good. Jasmine tried to keep the talk merry and cheerful for her niece's sake. When they were finished, they headed to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor for ice cream, and then went back to the Cauldron and flooed home.
Tonks went first and when Jasmine came out of the grate she saw that Tonks had wasted no time in finding her mother to fill her in on every detail of her exciting day. Andromeda gave Jasmine a look that said 'We're talking about this later' but was very enthusiastic when responding to her daughter.
Jasmine just said, "Hey, Ande…" – "Andromeda" – "I'm going to bed."
"Fine, then, want something to eat first?"
"No thanks, just breakfast tomorrow." Under her breath, she added, "I'm not stupid enough to corner myself."
"What was that?"
"Oh, nothing."
"Alright, then. Good night."
"Nighty-nighty. Thanks." Jasmine took a quick shower and went into the guest bedroom that she was staying in, closed and locked the door, and sat down. "I guess there's just one thing to do," she said to the empty room. She laid down and went to sleep.
A/N: So what'd you think? Please tell me how I'm doing-I've already written to ch 24 and I want to know if the fic's going ok.
